An airplane fuselage is a lightweight structure usually consisting of a skin supported internally by reinforcing frames and stringers to form a rigid shell. The reinforcing frames are positioned along cross sections of the fuselage which are substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the fuselage and the stringers run along the longitudinal axis. Over one section of a fuselage, of the order of 5 m in diameter, such as that of a jumbo jet, the number of stringers may be as high as 100 or more.
When the fuselage is produced by assembling several sections, two elements that form a stringer, situated facing one another in each section, have to be joined together in order to provide the structural continuity of the stringer and transmit longitudinal loads.
To assemble two stringer-forming elements, one known solution is to use a splicing plate. Said splicing plate bears against the elements which face one another in each section and is assembled and fixed to the elements using fasteners such as rivets.
Because of the manufacturing tolerances, it is not generally possible to guarantee perfect alignment between the two elements of one and the same stringer in the case of all the stringers of the two sections over an entire cross section.
When the two stringer-forming elements are riveted elements 2a, 2b as they are in FIGS. 1a and 1b, that is to say when they are fixed by means of rivets to a skin 61a, 61b of the fuselage, one solution, when producing the section, is not to complete the assembly, on the skin 61a, 61b, respectively, of the ends 25a, 25b situated at the circumferential joint 5 of each stringer-forming element 2a, 2b over a distance of some ten centimeters for example. Thus, upon assembly, the stringer-forming elements 2a, 2b can be deformed slightly, within the elastic domain, on each side of the joint 5 to make said elements align and so that the splicing plate 1 can be fitted to ensure the structural continuity of this stringer before the elements 2a, 2b are definitively fixed to the skin 61a, 61b. 
When at least one of the stringer-forming elements is fixed to the skin of the fuselage with no possibility of repositioning it on the skin during assembly of the two sections, as for example in the case of a welded element or a bonded element, the aforementioned solution can no longer be envisioned because said element can no longer be deformed in order to correct the misalignment.
One known solution is to use a packing piece 8 to compensate for the misalignment distance. Once the two sections have been positioned, some elements 2a, 2b of one and the same stringer have a variable offset ε. The offset ε is measured and the packing piece 8, produced to a thickness substantially equal to the offset ε, is inserted between one of the two elements and the splicing plate 1, as illustrated in FIG. 1c, so that said splicing plate rests on a substantially flat surface of both elements 2a, 2b. 
However, the use of the packing piece entails, on the one hand, the addition of an extra part, namely the packing piece, with the possible risks of incorrect positioning and, on the other hand, the fact that there is a packing piece being used leads to an increase in the peening of the fastenings, because of the distance between the element and the splicing plate. In addition, the packing piece introduces an additional interface thus increasing the risk of corrosion.